


Hell Of A Good Day To Die

by Safaia



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Canon Typical Violence, F/M, Kissing, M/M, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-13
Updated: 2013-01-13
Packaged: 2017-11-25 08:16:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/636912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Safaia/pseuds/Safaia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It took three years for everyone to get over themselves and finally become one pack. When hunter's that Chris refers to as 'rookies' show up in town Derek and the rest of the wolves brush them off as if they aren't a threat. Allison and Stiles are not as convinced and with good reason.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hell Of A Good Day To Die

**Author's Note:**

> Man I've been sitting on this thing for months. I went into the [Teen Wolf Reversebang](http://twreversebang.livejournal.com) knowing that I needed some form of a finish product by November because of NaNoWriMo. Considering all of the other projects I had signed up for I wasn't even going to sign up but [Lauren](http://amphoterrible.tumblr.com) is a bad influence and convinced to do claim something. When I saw [Puckboum's](http://puckboum.livejournal.com) art I knew it was the piece for me. It's a lovely piece of art and you should go put it in front of your eye holes. This is a little more on the violent side but this is a show that featured someone getting cut in half so I think the PG-13 is safe. This was beta-ed by the lovely [Lauren](http://amphoterrible.tumblr.com) because those were my terms for signing up is that she had to beta for me, all other mistakes are mine, and this is all her fault really for getting me to watch this show. Feel free to point out any and all mistakes. Teen Wolf is (C) to MTV and Jeff Davis. I'm just playing in the sandbox. The title is from the song 'Half-Truism' by The Offspring who are cooler than you. 
> 
> Link to art: [here](http://puckboum.livejournal.com/5720.html)

_If we don’t make it alive_  
 _Well, it’s a hell of a good day to die_  
 _All our light that shines strong_  
 _Only lasts for so long_  
 _Half-Truism by The Offspring_

Stiles was not paranoid. Well, that was not true, he was paranoid but after three years of dealing with werewolf crap he was pretty sure he had the right to be. He tried not to let it rule his life, however, because that meant he would probably never leave the house. There were too many things out there that wanted to kill him or had tried to kill him in the last month alone. The fact was that Stiles knew he was a little paranoid but it was a paranoia that had saved their lives on more than one occasion. It had taken two long years, Peter, Jackson, the alpha pack and Peter Again before they all got over themselves and became one pack. There were a lot of fights and someone probably lost an internal organ at the time but it was not one of the three humans so everyone mostly laughed it off.

Stiles, however, was fairly sure that Lydia still had nightmares about the time someone tried to tried to rip out Jackson's heart. And he knew for sure that Allison once woke up screaming about the time Scott almost died of Wolfsbane poisoning. As for Stiles he had long since stopped trying to pin his nightmares to one singular, horrifying moment in a long line of horrifying moments. He was pretty sure his nightmares were just one giant montage at this point. 

After everyone got over themselves the next thing to do was to build a home. At first the Hale House seemed completely illogical but Stiles stayed up all night on the full moon with Lydia and Allison coming up with blueprints for the house while everyone else was out killing bunnies and running naked in the moonlight. Between Lydia’s natural knack for design, Allison’s keen eye for coming up with vantage points and Stiles’ ability to take both of those things and make it into something that could work in the real world they had the basics done by the time the pack stumbled back home. Derek was impressed, Scott kissed Allison’s cheek, Jackson reminded Lydia that she was perfect, Erica and Boyd clasped hands tightly and grinned, and Isaac flashed his bright smile that had once been so hard to locate. The entire thing was disgustingly cute and Stiles did not care that he was smiling so hard it hurt. 

Construction started as soon as the ground was soft. They were all back for the summer from various colleges and between five werewolves and three kick ass humans there was a good chance the house would be done by the fall. Stiles stayed late one night with Derek and Isaac after the various couples had decided to go in dramatically different variations of date night. It was toward the end of the summer when this happened. Strangely Isaac was also gathering his things to leave despite the fact that he usually stayed and helped on date nights. 

“Where are you going, Curly?” Stiles as he sanded a table. 

“Well, Moe, I was thinking of getting some work done on my summer reading and leaving you to get some work done with Larry,” Isaac replied grinning.

“You’re not old enough to understand that reference,” Derek said without looking up from the chair he was building. 

“Whatever, I’ll leave you to it.” Isaac waved and jogged out of the mostly completed house. Stiles watched him go for a moment until he turned his attention back to the table. He made idle conversation with Derek about little things. Contrary to what everyone might have thought Derek talked plenty. It was not all doom and gloom now either and there were quite a few times that Derek said something that made Stiles’ stomach hurt he laughed so hard. Stiles finished the table and killed some his brain cells as they applied the wood stainer. The first time he stumbled from the fumes Derek took him by the arm and dragged Stiles up to the third floor.

“What is this?” Stiles asked when Derek pulled a ladder down to go to the attic.

“I’m getting you some fresh air,” Derek replied.

“We could have gone out the front door or opened a window.” Stiles raised an eyebrow and looked up the ladder at the attic. “What are you planning?”

“Don’t make me order you up there, Stiles,” Derek warned but there was no edge to his voice and Stiles rolled his eyes. 

“You couldn’t order me to make you sandwich.” Stiles climbed the ladder and up into the attic. The sun was down now and there was one yellow bulb hanging from the ceiling. Stiles looked around, unimpressed, until Derek took him by the arm and pulled him toward a window. “Are you insane?” Stiles asked when Derek climbed out onto the roof. 

“Do you trust me?” Derek asked offering a hand to help Stiles outside. 

“That’s a low blow and you know it. I can’t believe you’re enough of a cliche that you are actually taking me out onto the roof,” Stiles said but he took Derek’s hand and climbed out the window. 

“I made something for Allison and I wanted to show you actually,” Derek said flatly as the two of them crossed the roof. At the highest point of the roof, right in the middle there was a widow’s walk. It was not big enough for more than one person and gave a perfect vantage point in all directions. Allison would be able to guard the entire area using her bow like a sniper rifle. Stiles kept his grip on Derek’s hand because there was still the chance he could trip and roll off the roof to certain death and he trusted Derek to keep sure footing. 

“She’ll love it.” Derek did not hold a grudge against Allison for the actions of her family anymore nor did Allison blame Derek for the death of her mother. It was something else in the long line of things everyone got over when they decided to give this pack thing a try. While Derek was not as close to Allison as Lydia or Stiles was that did not mean he did not care about her. This was touching in the same way that Stiles knew Derek and Jackson were working on a makeshift lab in the basement for Lydia. These were both surprises that both girls were going to adore. “And Scott is going to take total credit.” 

“I told him he could have 60% credit if he stopped waxing poetic about her hair otherwise he gets 10%,” Derek said. 

“So he’s getting 10% then,” Stiles said grinning. 

“Boyd, Isaac, and Erica may have a pool going about how long it takes for him to screw up but you didn’t hear that from me.” Derek said smiling and he squeezed Stiles’ hand. “And you aren’t allowed to join the pool because you know Scott too well.”

“I could tell you the hour that he will start going on about her eyes.” Stiles said grinning. Derek gestured and the two of them sat down on the flatter part of the roof. Stiles wanted to laugh about what a cliche they were for lying on the roof looking at the stars and the moon but it was nice to relax once in awhile. 

“Thank you, Stiles,” Derek said after a long bout of silence. 

“For the table? I did do a pretty bitchin job on it,” Stiles replied.

“No, you idiot, for this house. You, Allison and Lydia are the reason this is happening at all so thank you,” Derek said. Stiles was not looking at him but he knew that Derek had that small smile that he only shared with select members of the pack. 

“You’re welcome.” They stayed on the roof making idle conversation for nearly three hours until Stiles found himself drifting off and they went back inside. Stiles passed out on the couch in the living room and Derek slept in the huge chair next to it.

+++

Two weeks into August and a bunch of hunters showed up in town. Argent denied inviting them but told them that these hunters were young and inexperienced. There was a good chance they did not even know there were wolves in town and were just passing through. The wolves scoffed because they could handle well trained hunters they could handle a bunch of babies. That did not ease the tension between Stiles’ shoulders and he really wished they would take this a little more seriously. The house was almost done and they were all leaving for school in a week.

The weekend before they were supposed to leave someone decided that having a night in was a good idea. Lydia and Jackson were still on vacation and when Stiles spoke to her on the phone she sounded worried. He tried to reassure her but he was not confident himself so that was tough. Stiles was in one of the side rooms staring out the window when Allison joined him. 

“You’re really worried about this, aren’t you?” she asked as she joined him near the window. During the alpha pack business Stiles had bonded with Allison about losing their mothers. He held her tightly and told her that it never got better but it got easier and she cried into his shoulder. Scott has resented Stiles for it thinking that Stiles was going to end up dating Allison or something stupid like that but it was completely platonic. Through Allison he got to know Lydia and the three of them were the token humans of the pack. 

“They always think they’re above a bunch of humans and they should know better by now,” Stiles replied. Allison linked their arms together and rested her cheek on his shoulder. 

“I’ll have a talk with Scott and you should talk to Derek,” she said and Stiles scoffed.

“What makes you think Derek will listen to me?” he asked and Allison rolled her eyes, kissed him on the cheek, and walked out of the room. Moments later Stiles felt more than heard Derek join him. They were standing shoulder to shoulder and neither of them were saying a word. 

“You know I take every threat seriously,” Derek opened with which was annoying. 

“I know you do but the degree that you take threats seriously is not always right. Just because they are a bunch of rookies doesn’t mean they can’t do damage,” Stiles said crossing his arms tightly across his chest. Derek turned Stiles around so they were facing each other. They were close enough that Stiles could see the individual colors of Derek’s eyes but he made no move to uncross his arms.

“You know I’ll keep you safe.” Derek said softly. 

“Keep us safe,” Stiles corrected. 

“Obviously. Try to and enjoy the night, all right?” Derek took a step back and Stiles watched him leave the room. He did not follow and moments later Allison joined him. She looked annoyed. 

“No luck for you either?” she asked. 

“Of course not.” Stiles could hear Erica laughing at something Boyd and Isaac were saying and Scott and Derek arguing, probably about Stiles and Allison, with the dull undertone of music and the smell of pizza. 

“I’ll go try to talk to Scott again. Maybe we can convince Isaac to side with us.” Allison turned to walk out of the room. Stiles looked out the window and went to follow her when a sharp pain exploded on his side. He grunted and looked down at his ribs as blood began to spill from a deep wound. Allison turned and opened her mouth to say something when there was another pop and she grimaced. There was a similar wound on her hip, blood staining her shirt and they both fell to the floor as if in slow motion.

+++

Derek smelled the blood and was running toward it with Scott close behind before thinking twice. He turned the corner and looked into the room to see Allison and Stiles holding hands to their sides to stop the blood flow. There were two small holes in the glass and the vague smell of gunpowder and metal.

“Stay away from the window!” Stiles screamed. 

“Cover the exits!” Derek yelled as his pack scattered. Suddenly there were heartbeats surrounding the house and windows shattered. Something came through the window and rolled on the floor, it looked like a smoke bomb, but they did not release smoke but wolfsbane. Derek struggled to breathe as the front door was kicked open. The hunters, the rookies, came in brandishing blades and guns. 

Scott rushed them but they kicked him aside like he was just some kid and not a wolf. They all fanned out to take out the hunters but their senses were dulled and the smell of Allison and Stiles’ blood in the air was distracting for Derek. The smell of blood became overwhelming as blades sliced his pack to ribbons, as Erica and Boyd fell next to each other, unable to move but still reaching for each other. As Isaac fell against the wall a hand the only thing keeping the contents of body from spilling out. As Scott was thrown to the ground but he struggled get to Allison. 

Derek fought but the wolfsbane was starting to make everything seem dull. The hunters weapons were laced with wolfsbane but it was like the kanima’s venom. It made his limbs feel heavy and they managed to stab him in the stomach and kick him to the ground. Blood was beginning to pool around him and Derek could only watch as the hunters walked through the house. They were going for Stiles and Allison and Derek could not allow that to happen. He struggled to move, to do anything, but his body was not responding. He was helpless and when the hunters dropped Stiles next to him and Allison next to Scott it made everything hurt more. 

“Hey big guy,” Stiles said. He was smiling despite the fact that it looked like someone had punched him. His lip was bleeding and there was a smear of blood on his forehead. Stiles was pulling him into his lap and running his fingers through Derek’s hair. They were all going to die and this felt so sentimental that Derek’s heart could not handle it. He could hear Allison talking softly to Scott but he could not make out the words. “You’re going to be okay, we’re going to be okay, you’ll see.” 

“You know why we’re here Stilinski,” one of the hunters, a man in his early thirties with dead eyes who was holding a sword, said. 

“We both do, don’t worry,” Allison said softly as she stroked Scott’s cheek. 

“If you don’t come we’ll--” 

“You don’t need to threaten the wolves we’ll come willingly,” Stiles snapped. He looked up at the hunters and there was the man that Derek did not see often. The young man, no longer a boy, willing to do anything and everything to protect the pack. “We both knew exactly what you were doing the second you walked in. We just didn’t expect you to be this violent.” The man smiled and gestured to his men. Two of them swarmed Allison and yanked her to her feet as she tried to tell Scott something. They were coming for Stiles now and Derek was terrified. “Derek, listen to me. I need you to get some rest. This wolfbane isn’t going to kill you but it’s going to make healing a bitch so just rest and Allison and I will be back in a few days, okay?” The hunter scoffed but Stiles did not react. 

“Stiles, I can’t--” Derek could barely breathe let alone speak but Stiles shut him up with a soft and gentle kiss. 

“We’ll be right back,” he whispered. The hunter’s yanked Stiles to his feet and he made some quip about the merchandise that Derek could not understand. The world was beginning to grow dark around the edges and the last thing he heard were the sounds of Allison and Stiles being forced out the front door.

+++

The hunters had bound Stiles’ hands tightly behind his back, put a makeshift bandage over the wound on his side and pulled a blindfold over his eyes. In his mind Stiles made a map from the house to where the hunters were driving. He counted lefts, right, how long they went straight and judged how fast they were going. Allison was next to him and if he moved he could touch her arm gently. Touching was pack, it brought comfort, and it was the same for them even if they were human. By the time the car jerked to a halt and rough hands yanked him out of the back seat Stiles had a good idea where they were. Someone had cut the binds on his wrists and threw him against a wall.

“Easy, Jesus,” Stiles muttered as he pulled off the blindfold. Allison was on the ground next to him and he ignored the hunter’s to help her to her feet. Her wrists were red from the ropes, similar to his own, and he touched them gently with his thumb. 

“I’m fine,” Allison said without him needing to ask. Stiles flashed her a smiled and squeezed her hands.

“Me too,” he said.

“You won’t be,” the leader said. He did not give them a chance to do anything before he shoved them apart and pinned Stiles to the wall by his neck. “You’re revolting.”

“The feeling’s mutual, don’t worry,” Stiles through his teeth. The leader threw him to the floor and Stiles could see as another hunter backhanded Allison hard enough that she hit the floor. Her lip was split and she wiped the blood away. The hunter kicked Stiles in the ribs hard enough that Stiles was sure he heard a crack. He was still trying to get his breath back when the hunter grabbed him by the shirt and threw him into a chair. Allison was struggling against the man that had her but he yanked her head back and put a knife to her throat.

“You struggle again and I’ll slit your pretty throat,” he warned. Allison clenched her jaw tightly and did not struggle as they put her in a chair either. The leader smiled down at the two of them, a sword in hand, and he looked thrilled. 

“I’m going to enjoy this. You two disgust me,” he said. He spat in Stiles’ face which was really quite gross. Stiles said nothing, he just reached for Allison’s hand, and interlaced their fingers together. The leader clenched the sword, grinning, but neither of them closed their eyes.

+++

Derek blinked awake slowly. The sun was coming up and the entire house smelled of blood and wolfsbane. His wounds were healing but he still felt sluggish. His pack was on the ground around him all groaning and struggling to their feet. The entire night felt like a blur that he could barely remember but as it all came back to him it hit Derek like a freight train. They had taken Stiles and Allison, they had taken them, they had taken them alive. Derek scrambled to his feet and stumbled outside. No one was near the house, the area around them was silent, and that was worse. The rest of the pack joined him seconds later.

“They have Allison and Stiles,” Derek said struggling to keep his anger under control. Next to him Scott was not doing as well. 

“We have to go save them!” Scott nearly screamed. “Who knows what they could have done to them while we were out?”

“But why take them?” Boyd asked quietly. He was hand in hand with Erica and they were holding each other hard enough to crack bones. “Why take them but not kill us? We were totally helpless.”

“Hunters hunt wolves,” Isaac said his arms crossed tightly across his chest. “All of the hunters we’ve dealt with have left Allison, Stiles or Lydia alone because they are human.”

“Does it matter?” Scott snapped. “Does any of it matter if they are getting tortured as we stand around here talking? Stiles is my best friend and Allison--” Scott cut himself off because he did not seem capable of finishing that sentence. Derek was barely listening to anything they were saying. He was reaching out with his senses, trying to find Stiles, because he could always find Stiles, but he must have been too far away to find. That had to be it, he reminded himself, not because Stiles was dead. 

“We are going to get them back,” Derek said dangerously.

“We’re with you. They are pack,” Erica said her eyes flashing. 

“I need you three to stay here,” Derek said to Isaac, Boyd, and Erica. “Those hunters managed to sneak up on us and we need to protect our home. If we don’t have anywhere safe to retreat saving them won’t matter. Let Scott and I handle this.”

“You two are the most illogical about this, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Boyd asked. He was not trying to defy his alpha, he was just being thorough, and Derek appreciated that. Scott was a mess, that was true, but Derek was not sure why he was being included in that.

“We can handle it. Spread out around the house and make sure they didn’t leave any traps. We’ll be back soon,” Derek said ignoring the lump that formed in his throat because those were the words that Stiles had said before he was taken. He was going to get him, get them, back, and kill anyone that got in his way. Derek glanced at Scott, who nodded, and the two of them took off into the woods. 

Scott was moving with the kind of single minded determination that Derek normally would have chastised him for being obsessive but this time was okay. They both ran so fast that for the first time in his life Derek began to feel the edges of exhaustion. They stopped when a road forked off in three directions. Derek knelt down and touched the tire marks in the dirt. They were out of Beacon Hills, hidden deep within the forest, and there was not much in the area. 

“Derek, what if they’re--” Scott started.

“They aren’t. We would have felt it if they were. We are going to save them, I promise you, and we won’t let those hunters get away with taking them from us,” Derek promised. It did not feel like a lie but it did not feel like the truth either. “They went further into the mountains. Let’s go.” The two of them took off along the road followed it toward a small set of cabins. Heartbeats began to fill his senses and the thick smell of blood was too much. Derek could barely maintain control as he raced toward the only cabin that smells of humans. Derek knew what Allison and Stiles sounded like but they’re heartbeats were too calm. That could only mean they were so hurt they were not awake anymore or they were dying. Scott barely gave Derek the opportunity to kick the door to the cabin down before they both rushed into the room.

“Ha, Stiles, you owe me twenty bucks,” Allison said. 

“Oh god damn it you two. I told you to rest, couldn’t you have held out for another ten minutes?” Stiles said. Derek blinked and could not stop his jaw from dropping. Allison and Stiles were bloody but they all looked like superficial wounds. At their feet were five tied up and unconscious hunters. They were sitting in two chairs, looking over a book, completely casual as if they weren’t surrounded by people that had just kidnapped them hours before. Their heart rates were steady, they were fine, and Derek looked at Scott who seemed just as surprised. 

“They didn’t bring a car,” Allison sighed. 

“What a terrible rescue,” Stiles replied and they both grinned.

+++

“Ow, god damn it, that hurts,” Stiles said from the bathroom.

“Oh stop being such a baby. It’s just a little iodine,” Allison replied. Derek could not see them, he was in the hallway, still unable to even say anything. It took longer than he cared to admit to jerk him and Scott out of their surprise to see Allison and Stiles completely fine. Scott still looked dumbstruck and did not object when Allison had dragged Stiles into a bathroom to clean themselves up.

“You have a terrible bedside manner,” Stiles grumbled and Derek heard a bandage being ripped open. 

“And you are a two year old,” Allison replied. Derek clenched his fists and walked around the corner to the bathroom. He did not even have to knock before they both turned and looked at him. Allison’s lip was split, she had a dark bruise on her cheek, her wrists looked rubbed raw, but she still smiled brilliantly when she saw him. Stiles had an ugly black eye forming, a cut on his forehead that was still bleeding freely, his knuckles were torn up, and he was sitting like it hurt to move too much. She was kneeling in front of Stiles who sat on the edge of the bathtub. Both of the their grazes from the bullets were already stitched by the time Derek and Scott got to the cabin.

“Can I take over?” Derek asked. 

“Of course,” Allison replied. She put the bandages on the floor and squeezed Stiles’ hands while Stiles whispered something in her ear. It was Latin and Stiles hardly reacted when she kissed his forehead. Derek watched her leave for a moment until he knelt down in front of Stiles and picked up the bandages. The cut on Stiles’ forehead was still bleeding and Derek placed a gauze on it to keep pressure. 

“Since when do you and Allison speak Latin?” he asked. 

“Not just me and Allison. Lydia is actually the one that taught both of us but we figured it would be a good idea to have a way to communicate without letting our captors know what we were talking about. Latin is all but a dead language so it seemed like the right choice.” Stiles replied. That was actually a really good idea. “That’s not the question you really want to ask though.”

“How do you know that?” Derek asked.

“I can read you like a billboard but I’m not an idiot,” Stiles replied smiling. “Though I have to admit you and Scott bursting in like you were action heroes is probably one of my favorite moments ever.” Derek pulled away from the wound and placed a bandage over it. He took Stiles’ hands and began to clean the wounds on his knuckles. “I told you to stay and rest, that we would be back in a few days, but you never listen.”

“You got kidnapped, Stiles, did you really expect me to sit around?” Derek snapped but he took a deep breath and released it. “You knew you were going to be okay.”

“Yeah, I did,” Stiles replied.

“How did you you two escape?” Derek asked. Stiles took a deep breath, released it slowly, and began to talk.

+++

“You said you both knew why we were there, do you know who I am?” The leader said and he looked smug, like he had some sort of ace up his sleeve, and Stiles just glanced at Allison with a raised brow.

“Your name is Julian Verdernas, but that’s not your real name,” Allison began calmly. “You were born in Ridgewood, New Jersey and you were arrested when you were fifteen for beating a thirteen year old gay boy so badly that he needed surgery.” Julian’s smug smile began to fade and he started to get significantly paler.

“You were not born a bigot, however,” Stiles continued. “Your parents were good people that tried to get you all the help they could. When you were a sophomore in college a feral werewolf killed a girl on your campus. You tried to hunt it down by yourself but it got you with it’s claws in the ribs. You had to get thirty three stitches.”

“You were recruited by hunters directly from the hospital and you have been hunting wolves for the last eight years. You’ve killed exactly fifteen wolves though more than half of those were kids.” Allison spit the words out like they disgusted her. She always did have a problem with hunters that went after kids for obvious reasons. Julian held the sword tightly in hand as Stiles looked around the cabin. There were five men total, all armed to the teeth, and if there was anyone else they must have left. 

“You two disgust me,” Julian repeated as if the mere words tasted terrible on his tongue. 

_“How long do you give them?”_ Allison asked in Latin. 

_“Another forty minutes,”_ Stiles replied.

_“Twenty bucks says they’ll come through that door in thirty,”_ Allison replied with a grin. 

_“You’re on,”_ Stiles said and he barely flinched when Julian punched him hard enough that Stiles saw stars.

“You two can have all the special conversations you want but it’s not going to help you. We warned you months ago that we were coming and after we break the wolves by killing you two we’ll go finish the job,” Julian said. 

“You won’t touch them,” Stiles warned.

“Oh, really? Who’s going to stop me?” Julian asked chuckling.

“We are,” Allison said. 

“Two human kids against us?” Julian laughed and his hunters joined him. Stiles glanced at Allison, they smiled and squeezed each others hands. Stiles did not wait for Julian to get sure footing before he kicked out as hard as he could. There was a sickening crack and Julian stumbled. He and Allison were on their feet in seconds with the four hunters rushing toward them. Allison ducked against a punch and swept her foot out knocking a hunter to the ground. She pulled a knife from her boot and blocked the swipe of a blade kicking the weapon from the hunter’s hand. Allison punched one hard enough that he went down and kicked the other in the temple with her foot. 

Stiles ducked and hit his elbow across one of the hunters cheek hard enough that he heard the bone crack. The man stumbled and Stiles sucker punched him in the stomach hard enough that he went down. The last hunter had a gun and he raised it to fire. Stiles ran toward the man and he did not have time to pull the trigger before Stiles tackled him to the ground. The gun slid across the floor a few inches but Stiles picked up and knocked the man out. His side was throbbing and he could feel the blood running down his leg but he ignored it. 

Stiles pushed himself to his feet and turned to see Allison standing, breathing hard, a hand to her own wound. Stiles was about to suggest they stitch themselves up when a hand like a vice clasped around his ankle and yanked Stiles to the ground. Julian had a knife in hand and he raised it like he was about to gut Stiles when Julian grunted in pain. His eyes were comically wide as he slumped off to the side. Stiles blinked as Allison helped him to his feet a gun in hand. The butt had a bit of blood and hair on it. 

“You okay?” she asked. 

“Yeah, I’ll be fine, you?” Stiles replied as Allison empty the chamber of the gun tossing the bullets on the ground. 

“Yeah.” She glanced around the room and frowned deeply. “Shall we?”

“You tie them up, I’ll make sure all of the guns are empty, and then we’ll stitch these side wounds up,” Stiles replied glancing at his watch. “We have another twenty minutes or so before Scott and Derek will show up.”

“They’ll be here in ten,” Allison said smiling.

+++

Stiles finished and Derek could only stare. He had no idea that Allison and Stiles were so well trained, that they were both so capable, and he felt a little bad that he had underestimated the members of his pack so greatly. Stiles looked like he had just described a new and amazing way to boil water with how calm he was. There was still something about the entire event that turned Derek’s stomach.

“You said that you knew why they were there so why were they? Why did they take you and Allison but leave us?” Derek asked. 

“Hunters hate werewolves. It’s kind of their thing and it makes sense in a terrible sort of way. We hate what we fear, what we can’t control, all of that crap, so it makes sense that they would hate werewolves. Humans though, humans that willingly protect and fight for werewolves, those are something on a different level. Those humans are fighting against their own species, in these guys eyes, and that makes them even worse than the wolves,” Stiles explained softly. “About six months after we decided to do the whole pack thing I got a death threat in the mail for being a human that associated with wolves. I didn’t think much of it until Allison and Lydia mentioned they got them as well. 

“So, one night, the three of us got together, drank three and a half bottles of wine, and had to make a choice; we had to choose whether or not we wanted to stay in the pack despite the fact that we were being targeted by a different type of hunters. We decided to take the risk, obviously, but we all knew they would come for us someday. We knew they would take us, kill us first, and make sure it made headlines so all other humans in packs knew what to expect. Then they would come and kill you guys.” 

“You should have told me you were being threatened,” Derek said so angry at the three of them for keeping something like this from him that he could barely see straight. Stiles put his hands on either side of Derek’s head and knelt in front of him so they were eye level. 

“The three of us had to make this decision for ourselves. If Jackson knew he would persuade Lydia. If Scott knew he would persuade Allison. We had to decide for ourselves without you guys knowing because it was our decision. If you said we had a choice just knowing would make it harder to choose,” Stiles explained. “We picked you guys.”

“Who would make it hard for you to make the right choice?” Derek asked. They were close, so close that Derek could smell that despite what he had been through Stiles had never been afraid, he always knew that he and Allison could have saved themselves. 

“You already know the answer to that,” Stiles said simply. He did not give Derek time to obsess over that answer before he leaned forward and pressed their lips together. Derek did not hesitate as he kissed Stiles back because this was something he had wanted for so long. It had taken Stiles almost being taken away from him to make him see just how important this human had become to him. Derek wrapped his arms around the smaller but strong form of Stiles as Stiles threaded his fingers through Derek’s hair. Derek could taste the blood on Stiles’ lips and it terrified him that someone had wanted Stiles dead just because he was with the wolves. 

Derek was so caught up in the smell, the feeling, the taste of Stiles that he did not notice someone standing behind them until the flash of a camera went off. Derek jerked away and saw Allison standing in the doorway with her phone smiling.

“I knew it would take some life altering event to make you two figure this out. Lydia owes me fifty bucks.” She grinned and walked away from the doorway smiling. Derek blinked but Stiles began to laugh. He pressed his forehead to Derek’s shoulder and it only took a moment for Derek to give into the infectious laugh. The need to protect Stiles was still there and it would never go away but he felt comforted by the knowledge that Stiles could also protect himself. Stiles grinned and pulled Derek into another kiss but this time Derek kicked the bathroom door closed.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on [tumblr](http://safaiagem.tumblr.com)


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